Hi y'all,
I'm bowing out of this discussion for now. It is making me feel grumpy and uncharitable and a wee bit crazy. Stanley, you've been an honorable discussant---you actually have bothered to read the texts we are talking about---but you read things so differently from I, find such radically different opportunities for interpretation even in what seem to me the most straightforward phrases, that we end up at cross purposes. I think you are force-reading the most matter-of-fact sentences as if they metaphysical love lyrics, whenever that approach lets Hooper off an obvious hook, and you think (I think) that I am sticking to the literal word like a Hooper-hating fundamentalist even where a looser reading is the only commonsense approach. Where the facts are agreed-upon---e.g., the issuance of a Screwtape edition in which some of Lewis's words have been altered by Hooper---I see outrageous editorial presumption and you see little or nothing to be upset about. What can be done, short of perilous and expensive brain surgery, to change either of our minds?
I read somewhere that in ancient times the elders of Bulgaria, or some such place, used to debate every important question twice---once sober, once drunk---before making a final decision. In that spirit, I keep wishing that we could do hammer this stuff out in a pub instead of online. The typed word is an inherently inflammatory medium, I think. We would at least have more fun. For now, this has ceased to be fun.
If a personal reply to a particular question is desired, by all means drop me a personal message on my Wardrobe account. I am, however, stopping notification of reply posting on this thread.
Regards,
Larry
